Taking Care of Business

mall travel agencies hoping to land contracts with the federal government have few opportunities to bid, a travel professional who does business with the government told House lawmakers in May.

Jacquelyn Alton, who owns CWT/ Almeda Travel in Houston, testified on behalf of the Society of Government Travel Professionals before the House Small Business Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform and Oversight. She told the panel that government travel suffers because large agencies, such as the Defense Department, set aside little money for contracts with small travel agencies. In addition, Alton listed other barriers that keep these small firms from getting the government's business:

• Subcontracting requirements aren't mandatory and travel services often are bundled into other contracts.
• Some federal offices are shifting to in-house travel management.
• Contract requirements often require bid-ders to have experience serving government travelers.
• Small travel agencies don't have lines of credit to keep them afloat while they wait for delayed payments from government agencies. To turn things around, Alton said, the government should reach out to more small travel agencies and change federal requirements and procedures that unfairly penalize small businesses.